Expensive mistake? NCP

rach83

A couple of weeks ago I went to a small shopping centre that I had never been to previously. I went into the car park and obtained a ticket on entry. Its the type if place where you get a ticket and pay at a machine on exit. Once I got into the car park I realised that it wasn't the car park for the whole shopping centre but just for the halfords which was on the ground floor. I was in the car park for no more than a minute and rather stupidly with hindsight followed another car through the barrier. My OH says had I just put my ticket in the exit barrier it would have let me out. I then left the car park and went into the correct car park which is still part of the same shopping centre but has a different entrance. NCP have sent me a £50 fine and say they have CCTV. I parked upstairs and paid in the normal way. The car park only cost 60p an hour. I may still have the ticket in the car waiting for OH to come back home with the car to check. I've never had a parking ticket in the whole 12 years I have been driving and I really can't afford to pay the ticket as I'm currently on the 3 months unpaid part of maternity leave and have no income :-(

trisontana

If this is a private car park (i.e not owned by the council) then it's not a fine and you don't owe them a penny. Please read other threads on here that deal with private parking tickets and you will see what we mean.

give_them_FA

The only people who will incur any expense over this will be NCP. Their so-called ticket is totally unenforceable, and they will not attempt to enforce it, because they can't.

All you need do is to ignore each and every letter they send you, and after going through a preset routine of template letters they go away.

Do not contact- no matter how hard they try to get you to do so- and after a while you will hear no more about it.

These people have a glossy exterior, but ultimately, they are the same chancers as any other parking company.

Remember only the police and councils have the right to issue parking FINES.

What you have is a REQUEST that you can safely ignore. Read other threads on the forum.

Though at some stage you will be threatened with all sorts of grief, IT NEVER HAPPENS.

If you want a preview of the letters, go to the forum thread list and its the second one down.

Edit: Yes, as Trisontana says, make sure its not for the Council. Is payment to be made to the local Council or NCP? If its NCP the above advice applies. If the Council, say so because the advice will be different.

rach83

Cheers guys. I'll read up more info on it :-)

rach83

They think I have tried to avoid payment though which isn't what actually happened....

rach83

I've got the notice now. It's a parking contravention charge notice does this make any difference?

give_them_FA

You are mistaking them for people that care either way. The name of their game is simply to extract as much money as they can from you. That is why appeals never succeed. They won't listen to a word you say, just tell you that you must pay. Their "fine" isn't lawful so you can ignore it. NCP are far to smart to waste time or money on a losing Court case; they never do it. Only threaten it.

And parking contravention charge = safe to ignore.

Had it said "penalty charge notice" it would have been different.

vax2002

makes no difference it is an impersonation of authority scam ticket

notts_phil

Treat it like you would treat one of those dodgy Nigerian emails

bondy_lad

what you have recieved is purely a scam, you have not recieved a ticket,no crime committed, completely ignore all threat o grams you recieve on or on behalf of these clowns as nothing will/can happen to you,,,a PENALTY charge notice is legit,, you do not have this, so worry not, all you have is a PARKING charge notice=not legit/scam/con/fiddle,in other words you have recieved loo paper, so when you have finished doing what you usually do with loo paper,,simply press FLUSH AND FORGET.there you go jobs a real goodun innit.

Kite2010

You could say that having read the terms of the "contract" you declined accepting them and exited the car-park. Therefore no sum is payable. If a sum was payable then the barrier wouldn't have let you out.